When does good growth go bad? Bristol & Bath may be about to find out…

TechNation report points at problems for the cluster

30th May 2018

Last week TechNation released their annual report about the state of tech, naming Bristol as having the UK’s most productive tech talent with an enormous £320K of revenue per person! This is the 2nd year running that we’ve been lauded for the productivity of our people, which isn’t surprising when it’s over £100k per person higher than London.

Unsurprisingly the TechSPARK team and I think it’s great that the tech cluster here is being recognised (finally!), but when our cluster relies on its talent we can’t rest on our laurels. Over the past few months, we’ve been working with our mates at ADLIB to see what talent will be needed in the next couple of years.

There’s good news and bad news. The good news is that the cluster is growing enormously, and we’ve identified over 1,500 jobs being created in expansion programmes over and above the great organic growth we already see. The bad news, though, is that there are NO SPARE DEVS… employment is currently 98.4% (Stack Overflow) and the flow from education is barely able to keep up. If we don’t do something we’re going to see big crunch in the ability of our tech companies to keep growing.

One solution is Bristol Calling. A project to shout about the amazing companies, quality of life, careers and, most importantly, current vacancies locally. We’re using Bristol Calling as a platform to reach out to the best people nationally and asking them to come and join us in Bristol & Bath.

Last weekend we took to Bristol Calling to Silicon Milk Roundabout where 3,500 Londoners come to see the best jobs on offer. We shouted about the brilliant jobs here and met lots of people who want to make the move. We weren’t the only city though, Canada and France had huge spaces which just underlines what a global market we compete in.

We’re going to keep shouting about the awesome companies and careers here because we’re really passionate but to be a success all the city region needs to get involved. If we want to keep growing, we need to step it up a gear and show how Bristol & Bath really does have the most productive people.

Ben is MD of TechSPARK and leads on strategy, operations and our business consultancy services. He has previously managed Business Development for Invest Bristol and Bath and still helps as their Digital Sector Specialist.
Ben moved to Bristol 5 years ago after living in Manchester and still keeps finding out new things about the city. In his spare time he likes to travel and can be found in various European cities with a glass of wine in his hand.